The beginnings of my social media persona comes from being a student athlete. From high school that had served as my main source of the connections I have made. Traveling from state to state and playing different teams had been my first encounter with the small part of the sport industry. Coming into college my social media person had developed and grown to accurately represent me as a person. I brought my New York persona I grew up with and incorporated that into the aspects of my personality I picked up living in Virginia.
A theme of my persona is versatility. From my freshman year I found myself befriending many different types of people. As it was a new athletic program we as a volleyball team were strictly practicing the first inaugural year. That gave me a bit more time to find myself around campus. I had already established myself as an athlete and connected with that social group. I befriended those in my classes who had varying interests. For example, I found a group of students in my dorm who enjoyed singing. I began making connections with them because of my own interest with music.
As more of these types of relationships developed I found myself becoming a connecting branch from ODU athletics and the rest of the student body. Making these “unlikely” connections as an established student athlete has allowed me to introduce more people to sports as having a friendship may break the ice when a student is thinking about a game for example.
As time continued I decided to take an art class as an elective because I have a hobby of painting and drawing. It is very rare that a student athlete pursues a form of art for education let alone a class. This only further established my soon to be social media persona. Meeting other creative minds has further expanded my circle of reach. Meeting those outside the sport world has allowed me to learn how to efficiently work through the sports culture and ultimately learn how to influence and reach new markets in order to promote sport. After this class I had put more time into creating art in my free time. This has allowed me to create a personal brand of some manner.
I began sharing some of my art on social media and that has allowed me to navigate the intersection between sports and art. There are a lot of creative minds in this industry and I think that it elevates the industry. Art has allowed me to portray a unique persona while putting a twist on what it means to be an athlete.
I would describe my attitude on social media as very casual. There is a down to earth quality that allows me to transcend social groups and find common ground with all of them. A light hearted humorous tone is used in my interactions as I strive to remain relatable and understanding throughout my endeavors as a creative and student athlete.
